1892
July 13
Concord, Massachusetts.
Evening on the Assabet.
Mass.
Concord.  Still hotter, ther. said to have reached 102º in the
village. Here it did not exceed 98º.
  I spent the day in the house writing but immediately
after tea started up river in my canoe. The evening was
cloudy and very sultry with scarce a breath of air. Thunder 
muttered and lightening flashed in the distant West but
nothing came of it.
  The wild rice along the river has headed out and 
Red-wings were feeding on it at the mouth of Mill Brook.
On reaching Egg Rock I saw them in greater numbers
still flying into and from the tall canary grass on the
island at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet. They
were evidently going to roost. After watching them for
several minutes I struck the flat of my paddle on the
water making a noise which in the still damp air 
sounded nearly as loud as a gun.  Instantly a perfect 
cloud of Blackbirds rose - like a puff of black smoke - 
and circled over me. There must have been fully 200,
the majority young uttering the cha-cha note as they 
flew. I am not sure that I saw any old males here
but there were several in the Mill Brook gathering.
[margin]Roost of
Red-wings
(Copied) [/margin]
  Some thirty or more Barn Swallows were flying over
the water above the rock and dashing in and out
among the black willows on the opposite side of the river.
At first I supposed that they were going to roost in
these willows but only two or three - and these evidently
young birds - alighted and before I left the spot
they began to  disappear.
[margin] Barn Swallows [/margin]
  Turning into the Assabet I paddled slowly past
the hemlocks, where a Wood Pewee was singing, and
on reaching the swamp beyond the right bend took